Stormy Weather

The blue skies were too good to last, so the clouds began to roll in this morning. And it was still very cold outside. Inside, though, it was nice and warm and time for another escape room – this time from a company called “Escape room in a box.” This one was very different from the exit the room ones in two ways – first, it had a lot of plastic pieces, and second, it had many different puzzles that had to be solved simultaneously (the answer to four of the puzzles went into solving another puzzle, and so on) which meant that everybody

could be struggling with something at the same time, but we all needed to be talking to each other to put all the bits together. We pretty much felt like we had no idea what was going on for the whole time, but we just kept solving the challenges and suddenly discovered we’d solved the whole thing, in under the allotted hour. We did miss the ambient music from the Kosmos version.

 

Thrilled with our success, we had some downtime before our next activity (lunch at Pelican), which everyone made good use of. We had a brisk walk to Pelican which was not crowded at all, and then Jen and Reagan stayed home to work on the impossible puzzle while Tim, Dave and I did the 4.5 mile round trip hike to Cape Falcon. On the way out the sun was shining nicely. The path was quite muddy in places and slippery in others, but doesn’t go up and down too much which I like. It was very crowded – everybody and their dogs seemed to be out for a walk. The hike ends up out on a point way up high, with great views. On the way back it was cold and cloudy and we were glad to get back to the car. Dave and I did some comparing of steps, and over about 10,000 steps I took about 500 more steps than he did. I’d always thought I would take many more steps than he does, but it turns out not so much.

When we got back to the house impressive progress had been made on the puzzle. I had put 1 piece in before we left, and I put several in when we got back, so I feel that I have made a great contribution. We had a nice break, and Jen and Reagan finished the puzzle (except for one piece, which I was pretty sure Ben had stolen). Eventually it was time to head over to Irish Table.

We had a fantastic time at Irish table, where the food and service were exceptional. Even though the restaurant and kitchen are both small, and even though the restaurant went from shut to full in moments, they manage to keep the food and drink coming without excessive pauses. As always, I had the curried mussels and everyb

ody helped to eat the broth. We also shared two bottles of the Dr Loosen Riesling, which went so well with the mussels that now we always have to have it. Jen got the pumpkin bread pudding for dessert, which is a seasonal delight.

 

It had completely clouded up by the time we got home from our hike, and was cloudy to and from Irish Table, but not noticeably warmer. Still, it’s been super fun to walk everywhere. It was game time when we got home, and we had several rousing games of Happy Salmon, which always make my stomach hurt from laughing so hard, and it’s especially true when you ate too much dinner just before! Also during the playing of Happy Salmon the missing puzzle piece got shaken out of its hiding place, so Jen and Reagan could have the thrill of completion (although not the thrill of solving the riddles associated with the puzzle, which we were all too tired to do). We also played Chronology and I won both games, which is unusual. A couple games of tenzies and one of pepper rounded out our evening.

Meanwhile in the Horn Of Africa, Josh says it’s soooo hooottff that his t’s are melting into f’s.

We are all sad to think about leaving this house and all its hooks tomorrow. It has been a fantastic vacation, even though we all miss Josh!.